AVON, Ohio — People in small cities and towns across Ohio are joining in on public demonstations following the death of George Floyd. 

One Northeast Ohio city actually invited their citizens to an organized peaceful protest. 

Bryan Jensen is the mayor of the City of Avon. Last weekend a letter was distributed on the city’s Facebook page encouraging people to attend a peaceful protest march organized by recent graduates of Avon High School called “The Change We Seek."

The peaceful protest was designed to bring attention to racism and the inequalities of the criminal justice system.  
 
“I try to tell people that’s us, that’s what we do in our police department, we want to help people,” said Jensen. 
 
Some people who witnessed the protests think it’s great the city is looking to young people to help produce change. The Avon demonstration drew residents of other nearby towns, including Amherst, Lorain, and Oberlin—places where there were also organized marches over the weekend.
 
I think it’s amazing that our young people and the alumni of Avon High School— the ones who coordinated with the mayors office to do this— and they tried to do it in a very constructive way and there was no damage and everyone was aware of when they would be protesting, so those who didn’t want to be involved could easily work around where they would be,” said Lisa Mackin, an Avon resident. 
 
Back at city hall, Mayor Jensen says it’s time to be proactive rather than reactive toward these protests and he's proud of his city.  
 
"Bringing everybody together wasn’t just Avon residents, it was Avon Lake residents, it was Lorain residents, it was people from all over and if you look at the other protests or rallies out there, we were probably the biggest in the area, so it meant people cared and I think it brought out a lot of adults with children that you saw too. It was one of those things when you're done I think it was an emotional feeling of really feeling good that people care," said Jensen.